Here’s an interesting theory. If you had told me about this five years ago, I would’ve laughed to myself and dismissed it within a second.
I’ve always been very interested in self-help books. You might even say I’m a little addicted to them. One thing I’ve become very interested in lately is the notion [...]
If you suffer from moderate to severe social anxiety, the very idea of changing your outward appearance can seem overwhelming. Yet, in my case, I knew that, deep down; I was not helping my cause by appearing so unapproachable.
As a social anxiety suffer, I tend to be hyper-sensitive when it comes to the feedback I get from other people. Granted, the way I interpret their responses might be a little skewed, but that’s improving.
Because of this acute awareness, I’ve discovered that there is a direct connection between how I feel (and project myself), [...]
College was a tough time for me. Though I was sure that I’d be leaving all my troubles behind once my high school days were over, I was just kidding myself. Things didn’t improve much except for the fact that we were treated as adults now. Other than that, I was utterly alone. The only [...]
If you suffer from social anxiety disorder, chances are, your anxiety is written all over your face. Personally, I always try to hide it, but this becomes impossible in some social situations. Most people don’t really know what anxiety looks like, therefore, they are more likely to regard me as an anti-social, pissed-off, mean, cruel, [...]
My long-term goal is to overcome social anxiety disorder and start living a normal life.
Well…Duh!
Ok, an overly simplified, but true, statement. It’s just too bad that getting there wasn’t as simple.
The fact of the matter is that I may never reach that “ideal” stage – well, at least not without some kind of [...]
Yes, we all love to evaluate people, even if we don’t admit it. In fact, most of us are probably unaware that we even do it. What is this need to have someone’s number; to have them figured out in our heads? It’s really like some sort of competition, and we’re all looking for chinks [...]
Comparing oneself to others is as natural a human trait as eating, breathing, or sleeping. Most often this obsession to compare our strengths and weaknesses against that of other people is an automatic thing. I do it all the time without even thinking about it.
When I meet a person for the first time, I unconsciously [...]
The next big break came months later. I had been diligently following the program I set out for myself – maintaining a minimum number of exposures per day, going that extra step and really pushing myself. I was in a constant state of self-awareness and refused to let the old social anxiety habits take control. [...]
It took a long time to realize that being in the right frame of mind played an important role in how I interpreted feedback from the outside world. Quite often, I would miss a positive comment or gesture by others, and at other times, I would overlook the fact that I rose to the challenge [...]